The striker and usual co-host of Wolves’ Old Gold Club podcast is the latest guest on the My Golden Game spin-off, as he joins Mikey Burrows to discuss the feeling of scoring a hat-trick for Wolves, as his side beat Preston North End 3-1.
With the hat-trick already in the bag, it was a day of mixed emotions for the Scottish international, who was shown a red card – which Iwelumo argues was given to him unfairly – late in the contest at Deepdale back on 20th September 2008.
On the late notice of his call-up
“We were the only two teams in the Championship who were unbeaten. I was only told the night before that I was starting.
“The weekend before we played against my old club Charlton, and I wanted to play that game so much, but I had to pull out because I’d started doing pilates, which had corrected my posture but it created other issues for me. I was getting little shooting pains down my abductor and had lost all strength – I couldn’t even pass the ball.
“I wasn’t quite convinced that I was close enough to being fit enough to play because the pain I had coming from my back was a real sharp pain, and I didn’t even train. Right from the Charlton match up until the Thursday, they just had me in the treatment room.”
On scoring an overhead kick for his first
“We were on top at that moment. We were playing some nice stuff, you’re seeing a lot of the ball, I was winning headers, you’re linking up well, then you grow into that confidence and you take that chance on. It’s up there as one of my best for Wolves.
“You don’t think about these things. When you feel confident, you try things you wouldn’t usually do – the ball was there, I knew where the goal was, and then I connected with it. Very luckily, no-one got a touch on it, it went into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
“I took it on because I never had time to think about it, if I did have time to think about it, I probably would’ve headed it back across, or try to take control of the ball, take it down, back into the defender and try to put it back in the danger area.”
On a striker’s finish to double his tally
“Andy Keogh came on for Sylvan, and Keogh works well with everyone because he could do everything well. The only thing I would say about Keogh is that if he was prolific in front of goal, he could’ve gone all the way, playing at the highest level with the best of teams, because he could do everything. He was one of the fittest, he was strong, good aerially, and he came on and had a real positive impact.
“Him and ‘Kights’ linking up were outstanding, and when he fired that ball across, it’s just about arriving at the right time. It’s a one touch finish where you’re just trying to get across your man.
“There’s so much onus on the ball itself, and the ball was perfect. In the form I was in, it was in the back of the net and my celebration said it all – I was absolutely delighted.”
On the penalty which sealed his hat-trick
“Sylvan was the penalty taker, but when Sylvan’s not there, it was always going to be me. He’d been taken off in that game, so I was going to be taking it, and I don’t miss them – it’s as simple as that.
“When I was at Stoke City or Colchester, whenever we got a penalty I always used to put a goal on my goal tally; I’d count it as a goal as soon as I picked the ball up because I just never imagined myself missing.”
On seeing red after tangling with St Ledger
“I know Sean, we had the same agent, and I’ve come across him and given him a little knock, but I won the ball cleanly. He went to the floor and he’s then kicked up the whole side of my body.
“I stood over him saying, ‘What are you doing?’ He’s got up and head-butted me and then flew away. I thought, ‘He’s stitched me here.’ The worst thing I did was fall to the floor myself because I knew he’d stitched me up, and as soon as the red card came out, I was raging.
“I’ve grabbed him after the match and took him into Martin Atkinson’s room, and he said to Atkinson, ‘It was an accidental collision of heads. It wasn’t intentional,’ and we all thought it would get thrown out, but he’d done me.”
